The 1983 season

Hurricane Ellen (1983)

Hurricane Ellen reached Category 4 in the Eastern Pacific between August 27, 1983 and September 10, 1983, with a lowest pressure of 925 mb, and made landfall.

Track and intensity

The whole track of Hurricane Ellen, colored by strength, with the other storms of the 1983 season in the same basin behind it, and its wind and pressure hour by hour. Every fix is in the track table below.

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The storm

Basin
Eastern Pacific
Dates
August 27, 1983 to September 10, 1983
Peak strength
Category 4, 125 kt (144 mph)
Lowest pressure
925 mb (27.32 inHg)
Landfall
Yes
Accumulated cyclone energy
22.5
Fastest the center moved
22 kt (25 mph)
Identifier
WP101983

Deaths and damage

No source this site reads publishes a machine-readable casualty or damage figure for a storm of this era. The National Hurricane Center’s season tables begin in 1995 and carry deaths and damage only from 2005 in the Atlantic and 2020 in both basins; the US Storm Events record begins in 1996.

Track

Time (UTC)PositionWindPressureStatus
Aug 27, 00:009.8N 176.8W20 ktTropical storm
Aug 27, 06:0010.2N 178.3W20 ktTropical storm
Aug 27, 12:0010.7N 179.8W20 ktTropical storm
Aug 27, 18:0011.3N 178.8E20 ktTropical storm
Aug 28, 00:0011.8N 177.6E20 kt1008 mbTropical storm
Aug 28, 06:0012.2N 176.1E20 kt1008 mbTropical storm
Aug 28, 12:0012.7N 174.7E25 kt1008 mbTropical storm
Aug 28, 18:0013.1N 173.0E30 kt1008 mbTropical storm
Aug 29, 00:0013.1N 171.3E35 kt1010 mbTropical storm
Aug 29, 06:0013.2N 169.9E35 kt1010 mbTropical storm
Aug 29, 12:0013.2N 168.5E40 kt1010 mbTropical storm
Aug 29, 18:0013.1N 166.8E45 kt1010 mbTropical storm
Aug 30, 00:0013.0N 165.1E40 kt1008 mbTropical storm
Aug 30, 06:0012.5N 163.7E45 kt1006 mbTropical storm
Aug 30, 12:0011.9N 162.0E40 kt1006 mbTropical storm
Aug 30, 18:0011.4N 160.0E40 kt1006 mbTropical storm
Aug 31, 00:0010.9N 158.4E45 kt1004 mbTropical storm
Aug 31, 06:0010.5N 156.9E45 kt1002 mbTropical storm
Aug 31, 12:0010.3N 155.0E40 kt1002 mbTropical storm
Aug 31, 18:0010.2N 153.0E40 kt1002 mbTropical storm
Sep 1, 00:0010.3N 151.2E35 kt1002 mbTropical storm
Sep 1, 06:0010.2N 149.2E35 kt1002 mbTropical storm
Sep 1, 12:009.4N 147.1E25 kt1002 mbTropical storm
Sep 1, 18:009.1N 144.8E30 kt1002 mbTropical storm
Sep 2, 00:009.0N 143.4E35 kt1000 mbTropical storm
Sep 2, 06:009.2N 141.8E40 kt998 mbTropical storm
Sep 2, 12:009.2N 140.2E45 kt996 mbTropical storm
Sep 2, 18:009.5N 138.9E50 kt992 mbTropical storm
Sep 3, 00:0010.0N 137.5E55 kt990 mbTropical storm
Sep 3, 06:0010.5N 136.0E60 kt990 mbTropical storm
Sep 3, 12:0010.9N 134.4E65 kt985 mbTropical storm
Sep 3, 18:0011.3N 133.0E70 kt985 mbTropical storm
Sep 4, 00:0012.3N 131.7E75 kt985 mbTropical storm
Sep 4, 06:0013.0N 130.7E85 kt980 mbTropical storm
Sep 4, 12:0013.7N 129.6E90 kt980 mbTropical storm
Sep 4, 18:0014.4N 128.8E95 kt975 mbTropical storm
Sep 5, 00:0015.0N 128.0E95 kt970 mbTropical storm
Sep 5, 06:0015.9N 126.9E95 kt960 mbTropical storm
Sep 5, 12:0016.8N 125.8E95 kt950 mbTropical storm
Sep 5, 18:0017.2N 125.1E100 kt940 mbTropical storm
Sep 6, 00:0017.8N 124.1E120 kt930 mbTropical storm
Sep 6, 06:0018.3N 123.2E125 kt925 mbXX
Sep 6, 12:0018.7N 122.2E120 kt925 mbTropical storm
Sep 6, 18:0019.0N 121.2E100 kt945 mbTropical storm
Sep 7, 00:0019.3N 120.2E90 kt965 mbTropical storm
Sep 7, 06:0019.5N 119.2E85 kt965 mbTropical storm
Sep 7, 12:0019.7N 118.3E85 kt960 mbTropical storm
Sep 7, 18:0020.0N 117.5E80 kt960 mbTropical storm
Sep 8, 00:0020.5N 116.6E75 kt965 mbTropical storm
Sep 8, 06:0020.9N 115.8E75 kt965 mbTropical storm
Sep 8, 12:0021.3N 114.9E75 kt965 mbTropical storm
Sep 8, 18:0021.7N 114.1E70 kt965 mbTropical storm
Sep 9, 00:0022.1N 113.4E65 kt965 mbTropical storm
Sep 9, 06:0022.5N 112.6E50 kt980 mbTropical storm
Sep 9, 12:0022.8N 111.6E30 kt996 mbTropical storm
Sep 9, 18:0025.0N 111.0E1002 mbTropical storm
Sep 10, 00:0026.0N 109.5E1004 mbExtratropical
Sep 10, 06:0026.0N 108.5E1004 mbExtratropical

Other Eastern Pacific storms of 1983

What this means

A best track is the record a warning agency settles on after the storm, not what it said at the time: position, maximum sustained wind and central pressure every six hours, revised against every observation that came in later. Category is the Saffir-Simpson scale, which runs from Category 1 at 64 kt to Category 5 at 137 kt and reads wind only, so it says nothing about surge or rain. Accumulated cyclone energy adds up the square of the wind through the storm's life, so it counts strength and duration together.

Sources

Storm history from NOAA NCEI’s International Best Track Archive for Climate Stewardship (IBTrACS), which merges the official best track of every warning agency. Live storms, cones, watches and warnings from the National Hurricane Center and the Central Pacific Hurricane Center. Archived radar from NOAA’s Level II archive.

The National Hurricane Center has published no tropical cyclone report for this storm.